Yummm.

I know it lacks the cultural gravitas, but might I experience a similar taste sensation using one of the chickadees that wakes me up every morning at an ungodly hour? Looks to be about the same size...

Stupid people. LEAVE THE BIRDS ALONE!!

I only eat endangered species.

"satisfyingly crunchy, with a subtle hazelnutty taste"

mmmmm, sounds intriguing. is there any chance of farming these birds rather than hunting the wild ones?

There HAS to be some way to farm these things. If there is a way to legitimize the market, maybe the environment will get a break!

I never thought of it that way. I guess I'd feel more inclined to run out and save a species. For the meat, though. Not the species.

What? Birds are dumb.

I read somewhere that Francois Mitterand ate a plate of these as one of his last meals. Apparently, the tradition is to drape a handkerchief over your head when you eat them so that God can't see what you're doing.

@8,

You might have read it in Kiley's article about ortolans, maybe.

so does anyone have a line on scoring some ortolan? an hour after lunch and i'm STILL thinking about them! mon dieu!

Frozen, alors... je n' mangerais jamais les ortolans gelés!!

In the old days, the typical American breakfast used to consist of small birds, caught in a net, fried and battered, for breakfast.

Sigh.

Tip to cooks: Bash the heads against the stove first before cooking.

I'm the first to defend meat-eating in general, but this specific instance sucks ass. I despise people with no regard for rare species. I'm not christian, so to me rare species are precious on their own merits. But for christians, who comprise the bulk of conservative environment-raping scumfuckers, I think it's about the highest form of hypocrisy. God made that bird, and while according to his laws you have dominion over it, eradicating it from the earth has to be some kind of sin. It's like your father gave you a precious diamond ring that has been in the family for generations, and you pawned it for crack. I would gladly shoot those poachers in their filthy french fucking heads. I ain't even joking.
-

You're gonna want that crack, though.

Poe- I think we're in agreement, in a way. Ultimately, I believe these fuckos are all living out their short term desires because they don't care what happens to the rest of the world after they die. You're saying that living for the day is a good thing because it doesn't matter what happens to the world after you die. It's a reasonable point of view to hold, given that you won't be there to see the consequences of your actions. Why should you care? I do care, though. Perhaps irrationally so. And if you kill an ortolan, and I'm in any position to do something about it, I shoot you in the fucking head.
-

I just stomped on five of them.

Now I'm preparing to snort them.

Poe- well, if you really did that and it really was at all convenient for me to kill you, i'd be killing you. so if you are saying you really just did that, then I guess I really just killed you. and yet you were able to post from beyond the grave. who am i gonna call? ... Poe-busters.
- :-)

Nobody can stop me! Nobody!

westside @ 8, they drape the hanky to keep the fat from spurting all over the room. one of the main appeals of the bird is that it "seems to be made of pure fat" according to the french, who think that's a good thing. (yeesh--i've personally witnessed them eat pure fat in paris).